


"hey, hey, calm down. they can't hurt you anymore."

by fuckinglevi



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Angst, F/M, Fluff, Friends to Lovers, One Shot, Sad, Sad Ending, pretty sad sorry bout that
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-13
Updated: 2018-11-13
Packaged: 2019-08-23 03:32:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,680
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16611083
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fuckinglevi/pseuds/fuckinglevi
Summary: After each expedition, Levi was there. The titans terrified you, and nothing was more important to him than ensuring you would be okay.You felt him there, you’re sure you did. But there was nothing but total darkness before you.





	"hey, hey, calm down. they can't hurt you anymore."

This world proved to be evil. It brought nothing but pain to those living in it--especially to those trying to fight against that evil. 

You had been a victim to this dark world, like most of your peers, but you were lucky. Most wouldn’t think so; being born in a shithole and then living your entire adult life being surrounded by man eating giants was far from luck. It was rare to have hope when surrounded by so much death. Not many people were able to say they had something truly keeping them alive. That’s why you were so thankful to have found Levi--or, rather, quite the opposite. 

You had ran away from the dusty brothel you had lived in your entire life and decided to find somewhere new to rest your head, somewhere away from crusty men and mean women. You stole a loaf of bread and stumbled down an alley, which is where you would find your new home: a cardboard box turned on it’s side. It was quite the masterpad if you do say so yourself: your entire body fit inside, it was dry, and it even had fancy drawings decorating each side.

After crawling inside and shutting the doors, you scarfed down your bread way too quickly, held your scrawny knees tightly, and slept soundly. The box had proven to be quite a humble abode. It was a temporary home, though.

Footsteps of what sounded like two people woke you, and before you could even decide what to do, one side of your home was kicked in, and you were kicked in the process. 

You couldn’t help but yelp in pain, and that’s when the footsteps stopped, and one of the people spoke. 

“Farlan, what the fuck?” 

You gasped and tried to come up with an escape plan, but your mind was empty. 

“I didn’t mean to!” the other person said, and you heard footsteps once again. 

This time, they were close. 

The front doors of the box were pulled open as soon as the footsteps stopped, and outside was a boy, crouching down, looking right at you. 

A boy. With black hair, steel eyes, and pale skin. An actual boy. 

That boy was looking at you with wide eyes, analyzing your face. 

He was shocked to find a girl so… easy to look at inside of a cardboard box in an alley so close to his home. You were much cuter than any girl he had ever seen, and a cardboard box was no place for a girl the likes of you. 

“Why are you in a box?” the boy who was still standing asked. 

“That’s a stupid question,” the crouching boy said. 

You had yet to speak, far too scared of the two strangers in front of you. 

“So you don’t have a home?” 

“Obviously not, dipshit.” 

“I’m only trying to get her to speak, Levi.” 

Levi? That was a name you had never heard before, although you had never been this close to a boy near your age, either. Levi--an intriguing name, for an intriguing looking person. 

You found yourself mumbling his name, curious about how it would roll off of your tongue, liking the name even more afterwards. 

He quirked a brow and looked up at the taller boy, “Maybe she’s stupid.” 

He frowned and knelt down next to Levi, and Levi stood up. “You said the same about Isabel, but now she can read just as well as you can.” 

“You guys can read?” You had never even dreamed of being able to read or write--those things were like the fairy tales adults spoke about.

“She is stupid,” Levi decided, turning away and walking down the alley, back the way he had came. 

“Where are you going?” the other boy asked, now standing. 

You could hardly hear Levi now. “Home?” 

“You’re just going to leave her here?”

“What else am I supposed to do with her? You kicked a hole in her box, so you can take responsibility for her if you want to have another mouth to feed.” 

You heard his footsteps, and with a huff, the boy crouched back down to you. 

“We have a home you’re invited to,” he said. “Sorry about your box. I’m Farlan.” 

You nodded, and he reached a hand out to you. He pulled you out of the box and then led you down the alley, towards what you presumed to be his home.

This home was much roomier than the one you had just moved out of, though still quite small, but it was where you’d spend the next years of your life. 

Farlan, Isabel, and Levi taught you everything they knew how to do. How to read and write, how to use a knife, how to work the fancy gear they had. You kept up with your own meals, so they didn’t have to worry about keeping you fed. 

On top of that, you followed Levi around like a lost puppy. He was always full of complaints about it, but he never left home without making sure you were with him, and he never forced you to stay behind. You wanted to know everything about him. He was older than you had originally assumed, but not by much, and was still close to your age. He taught you how to be as stealthy as a stray cat, and how to clean just the right way. You even slept in the same bed, and as time went on, the two of you slept closer and closer together. You remembered one specific night often. 

You and Levi had just laid down, right next to each other. You laid on your back and he was on his side, holding his head up on his hand. 

“Do you think we’ll ever see the world?” you asked, glimmering eyes looking up at the ceiling. 

He watched your features, a soft smile on your lips and a dust of pink on the apples of your cheeks. Your hair was pulled away from your face and your eyes showed off all the thoughts you had in your head. 

You weren’t expecting an answer from him, but you got one.

“We will.” 

You looked over at him, the look on your face never changing. “How do you know?” 

He thought about it for a moment. He didn’t know. In fact, he would bet next week’s meal that the two of you would never be face to face with the skies above. But he’d do everything in his power to get you out of such a dump. 

“Because,” he said, thinking back to the day he opened that box and found you, “this shithole is no place for a girl the likes of you.” 

Your smile grew, and that’s when Levi finally rested his head on the makeshift pillow beneath him. It was a particularly cold night, so he pulled you close to him--the first time he had ever done something like that--and you’d never forget the butterflies his arm around you caused. 

Following Levi got you far in life. When he was given citizenship to the above ground, so were you, Isabel, and Farlan. When he joined the scouts, so did you three. 

When he left Farlan and Isabel that fateful day outside of the walls, so did you. You didn’t have a choice. It was the first time he had ever told you not to come with him, but you didn’t listen. Following him kept you safe, it kept you alive and hopeful. 

After that deathly expedition, when the quad became a couple, you almost lost that hope. The world was almost completely dark, but Levi was the single light left. 

It had been years since your two best friends perished, and since, you had witnessed many more deaths than you would have liked. 

But after each expedition, Levi was there. The titans terrified you, and it only made it worse to watch them tear apart fellow human beings. Nothing was more important to him than ensuring you would be okay, outside of the walls and inside them. You couldn’t keep up with how many times you had been curled up in his arms, laying in his bed, sobbing your heart out. It was probably the same number of expeditions you had been on. 

That’s where you were now. In his bed, curled into a ball, crying so hard you thought you might get sick. 

The room was cold. You could feel Levi’s warm arms around you, his hand on the back of your head. 

You could hear his words, spoken right into your ear as you sobbed. “Hey, hey,” he’d say calmly, “calm down. They can’t hurt you anymore.” 

You could feel his breath as he shushed your cries, you saw the concerned look on his face through teary eyes, you smelled his favorite tea. This was just like all the other times he was there for you. 

Like the time you nearly got tossed into a titan’s mouth; you were in its grip, it was ready to swallow you alive, but he saved you. You weren’t sure how he did it, but he did, and boy, did he give you an earful when you returned safely to the ground. When you got home, though, he held you, pressing kisses into your forehead between calling you an idiot, begging you to never do that again. 

As usual, you didn’t listen. 

“Levi,” you said softly, taking a deep breath. No answer. 

Sobs racked through your body once more when you opened your eyes and saw the dark room you were in. You felt him there, you’re sure you did. But there was nothing but total darkness before you. You wanted to hate him for being so protective. You wanted to hate yourself for not listening to him. You wanted to hate the world for being so ruthless, but it was the same world that blessed you with such a beautiful man in the first place.

“Levi,” you cried, louder this time.

No answer.


End file.
